Project description
A closer look at the politics of peatland conservation
Peatlands, which cover 4 % of the Earth’s surface, store 33 % of its carbon. This makes them vital for climate mitigation. In this context, the ERC-funded PEATSENSE project highlights the political nature of conservation decisions. It considers ecological degradation and how interventions affect local communities and Indigenous peoples who depend on these lands. PEATSENSE considers the politics of knowledge and inclusion in peatland governance. It also examines the role of multinational investors and their impact on traditional livelihoods. The findings will help ensure strategies respect both people and nature.
Objective
PEATSENSE will devise and test a ground-breaking approach to decision-making in peatland sites designated priority areas in recent climate assessments, redefining the meaning and practices of inclusion for future global climate mitigation. The project is contextualised by an important ecological challenge: we now know that although peatlands cover only 3-4% of the earths surface, they hold 33% of its carbon reserves. Following paradigm-shifting findings in biophysical research on the role of peatlands in the global carbon cycle, a suite of policy pathways and governance initiatives have been proposed to incentivise and monitor peatland conservation. However, many of the proposed interventions have been shaped without a clear understanding of why and how ecological degradation occurs in the first place, or how interventions will affect those living in and near peatlands. By imagining peatlands as places without people, or as inaccessible sites people do not depend upon, policymakers frame the problem of peatland conservation as a technical one. Yet the question of how to conserve peatlands is political because it is a matter of who gets to decide how environments are managed, and in whose interests. Multinational corporations and banking institutions are major players in the investment packages on the table, and private investors stand to gain considerably from new governmental subsidies. Meanwhile, even nature-based restoration practices such as rewetting impact on local agricultural and cultural practices in important ways. PEATSENSE will provide the missing investigation into the politics of knowledge surrounding peatland conservation to combat social exclusion and diversify decision-making processes. By analysing configurations of climate expertise in relation to proposed interventions, this project will model processes for valuing Local and Indigenous knowledge in climate futures and redefine inclusion for future mitigation strategies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
BS8 1QU BRISTOL
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.